Geno Smith Leads Jets Against Tom Brady And Patriots Thursday Night

The New York Jets travel on the road to visit the New England Patriots to open the Thursday Night NFL Network schedule for the 2013 NFL season. It’s starting earlier than ever before, with weekly Thursday night games throughout the season. The kickoff time for this matchup is set for 8:25 pm ET.

Both the Jets and the Patriots won their games with a field goal as time expired in Week 1, though for New York theirs was far more improbable.

The Jets faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, and gave up a go-ahead field goal with less than 40 second remaining. But thanks to a couple of big plays, and a personal foul penalty for a late hit out-of-bounds, New York was able to set up a field goal, and won the game 18-17.

The Patriots drove down the field behind quarterback Tom Brady to defeat the Buffalo Bills and get an opening win that also was a division win. New England will now face a second-straight AFC East opponent.

While in Week 1 it’s hard to say if we learned anything, what we can tell you from the perspective of New England is that Brady will need some help this season. The Patriots will have to find some playmakers on that offensive side of the ball to help out their star quarterback. That was evident against the Bills early on.

As for the Jets, rookie quarterback Geno Smith played well for the most part in his debut. He is certainly the better option to go with than Mark Sanchez. The win in Week 1 could do a lot of Smith’s confidence going forward, which could be the biggest thing gained from the first game. It will be a much different environment on the road against New England at night.